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The Milwaukee Police Department was organized in 1855 with a determined chief, seven pugnacious officers, and little money. The department grew to 21 men by the start of the Civil War in 1861. Law enforcement in the city soon earned the national reputation for honesty, integrity, and fairness it has enjoyed into the 21st century. The Milwaukee Police Department was first in the country to establish a formal officer training school, police bomb disposal vehicle, and "talking squad car." Nefarious criminals handled by the department include the foiled presidential assassin John Schrank, the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, and characters with quaint nicknames like "Cat-eye Lil" and "Kelly the Choker."

In 1897, the Wisconsin state legislature approved the creation of the Wisconsin State Reformatory on a 200-acre site between Green Bay and De Pere. It was born during a period of profound change when liberal reformers began to question the traditional punitive approach employed in American prisons. The result was a shift from a punishment-based system to one that favored progressive rehabilitation within the framework of the traditional prison model. Elmira, New York, may have served as the reformatory model, but no other state embraced the idea more fully than Wisconsin. For more than 50 years, the Wisconsin State Reformatory remained faithful to the reform mission, adapting to changes when necessary but always maintaining a strong link to its past.